WEBVTT Were Iowans we talked to<03;03<09;51 THEY'VElike Facebook and Twitter<10;30 THESEread online? <00;25 I THINK IT<02;02 WHEN YOU LOOK AT ANYTHINGTHE KNOWLEDGE, YOU'RE A FOOL.02;13>LATE RIGHT NOW FOR INDIVIDUALSCOURSE ON MEDIA AND TECHNOLOGYinformation. Moving forward --

Iowa voters say they weren’t shocked to learn about allegations against 13 Russian nationals and three Russian entities spreading misinformation on social media in the state’s first-in-the-nation caucuses.

Two years ago, former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton narrowly beat Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders in the Iowa caucuses, which led to concerns that caucus votes were not counted accurately.

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Russians allegedly took advantage of those concerns with fake groups created on social media sites like Facebook. Iowa Democrats who were closely involved with the caucus process said they weren’t surprised of allegations that the Russians went to great lengths to interfere.

“Iowa has been doing this for a long time, and to say the caucuses are rigged is just bologna,” said Matt Paul, former Clinton campaign senior adviser.

Officials with the Iowa Republican Party declined to comment Friday about the indictments, but Sen. Charles Grassley released a statement, saying in part, “These indictments show what we've known for some time: The Russians were actively working to undermine our elections and sow discord in our democracy -- by simultaneously targeting campaigns from both political parties."

Grassley also said he’s encouraged to see progress in Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation into Russian meddling.

Michael Bugeja, a media ethics professor at Iowa State University, said companies like Facebook, Twitter and Google haven’t lived up to the task of ferreting out fake news.

Facebook announced it is doubling its security staff to 20,000 employees and is actively working with the FBI to prevent future attacks by outside entities. Twitter and YouTube have yet to respond.

Bugeja said the key to combating fake news online is through education.

“It is too late right now for individuals to really adjust their households,” Bugeja said. “What we really need in the three regent universities is a required course on media and technology literacy.”

The professor said Russian accounts sowed discord on social media by allowing people of all political persuasions to seek affirmation instead of information.

“The most important thing that anybody can do is to question their own biases,” Bugeja said.

Social media companies don’t have methods yet to stop outside influences from spreading false information, he said, but it’s important to seek out different perspectives on news from trusted sources.